Yeah I went all fancy with the title for this blog. I often say to coaches and athletes alike that they need to be able to recognize the difference between improving in their sport/event and simply just maturing. What I mean by that will be the overall thesis of this post, of which I could go on for pages and pages but House M.D. is on and I've never seen this episode so I will keep it brief.
One of the main goals of a coach is to help each athlete reach his/her individual potential. Now, potential can be a very broad and general term. For me, potential is an all encompassing word that means their potential as an athlete. This potential will include basic athleticism (depending on their sport that could include strength, power, endurance, flexibility etc) as well as their technical potential for their individual sport and also their specific intelligence in the aforementioned sport. When you really think about all of that, it's quite a bit. For example, if I am coaching a jumper (pick a jump, any jump at all) that means not only do they need to reach their individual level of technical mastery, but also improve in all of the areas of athleticism and conditioning that pertain to that event. This way of training can take years and at first improvements may come slowly (and in some cases performances may take a step backwards initially), but once everything falls into place those improvements begin to accelerate and become more frequent in nature. This, to me, is the definition of "improvement". It's a very beautiful thing.
Maturation is what occurs simply by getting older and more experienced. The best metaphor I have is a basketball player with an awful jump-shot (let's call him Craigg Smit). If he continues to utilize his full body heave beyond the arc on a daily basis, his shooting percentage will increase. He will become more used to his unorthodox style and over time, it will work better than when he started. He did not "improve", his statistics simply got better. This is what I refer to as "maturation". The problem occurs when coaches and athletes mistakenly think that maturing is equal to improvement. Is there anything "wrong" with maturation? No, not at all. In fact, it happens in conjunction with improvement. Along with improvements in technique and athleticism, maturation will add even more. However, without improvement there will be a diminishing return on performance. So how does this all come into play with long term development in this day and age? Well, there's good news and bad news...
Unfortunately, our society has gone competition crazy. There is an overemphasis on competition and long term athletic development has taken a back-seat. Improvements alone aren't the only thing suffering as a result. A lack of proper development has lead to an increase of injuries due to poor deceleration technique, landing mechanics, bad quad to posterior chain strength ratio, etc etc. With an overemphasis on competition, maturation is becoming misconstrued as improvement more and more. A coach or athlete will see an increased statistic or performance and immediately think an improvement took place and assume, wrongly,that their training was sound. From there it continues until the athlete finishes their sports career never truly reaching their full potential, and potentially having a few serious injuries along the way. OK that was a bit of a downer...so what do we do?
Well, from my position, I receive athletes later on in their careers, once they are becoming adults. Many coaches in my position fall back on the old tired platitudes of "it's too late at this point, let's work with what we've got, can't teach an old dog new tricks". These cliches say more about the coach than they do the athlete. With a systematic approach and proper planning and programming the athlete can still improve. Will they improve as much as they would have if the process had began in their youth? Well no, but as coaches I feel we have a duty to the athlete to make sure they are on the path to reach their potential in whatever current state they are in when you receive them. So to the coaches an athletes out there, recognize if your performance increase is due to improvement or maturation, and if it is the latter, come up with a plan to take the next step in your athletic development. Set up a plan with a few things in mind...
1. The plan is based on evidence
2. Are practices geared toward development over a period of time in a number of areas...
a. General Prep
b. Training
c. Competition
d. Recovery
3. Is the plan systematic with both long term and short term development in mind
4. What is the ultimate end result.
Every coach can't be an expert, and specifics in training will vary based on philosophy as well as limitations that each athlete and coach face. However, each coach owes it to their athlete(s) to take the time and consideration to plan for their overall long-term development. And now, I have to go, Dr. House just said something witty and I missed it.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Monday, March 30, 2015
Beware the Sports Sophists
This blog post is a bit of a list, a "You May be a Redneck" style list, if you will, regarding Sophists in the realm of sport. Sophist is another name for a pseudo-intellectual, however the term pseudo-intellectual sounds pseudo-intellectual in itself. I believe that's an oxymoron, like rain on your wedding day, or swiss cheese. Basically, I become frustrated when I see status posts, tweets, blogs, articles and other such writings by people who like to inflate their ego by thinking that they know exactly what they are talking about, when much of what they write is complete bunk. So here is a list of warning signs that the post you are reading is by a pseudo-intellectual.
1. Flowery scientific-y language
Now don't get me wrong, proper language is important when discussing things related in the field of exercise science. The problem comes to be when you are incapable of writing a post without showing off some of the jargon that you have in your arsenal. The bigger problem comes into play when you use this vocabulary with your athletes when they have no background in training or exercise science. That is when their eyes gloss over and the hamster in their brain falls out of their wheel and everything you said is all for naught. Albert Einstein put it best...
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
2. Angry, aggressive points
Confidence is awesome, however I believe that it is also circular. As an example of this point, I feel that if you become over-confident you begin to border on false confidence coming from insecurity and self doubt. We all know people who talk incessantly about how awesome they are. Think back and you'll realize that these people are some of the most insecure people you've known. If someone is trying to convince you of a point regarding sports or training and they can't write without angrily speaking about what frustrates them about other coaches and athletes and what they do wrong, then you should start to look a little deeper and ask "well, why are you so angry about it?"
3. False equivalencies and other fallacies
Bit of background. In college I was required to take philosophy as a general education course. Due to an issue with the registrar I was accidentally placed in a high level advanced logic course instead of an intro course. I did not realize this fact until later in the semester. It was the only college course I failed. That summer I re-took the course at another University with actually a more strict professor but one who knew the material much better. I got a 4.0 which replaced my F. One of my favorite parts of philosophy was how to label and discover fallacious arguments. Put on one of those 24 hour news networks and you'll hear a whole gaggle of them! I read a huge number of posts that try to equate two things that really have no bearing on one another; sometimes even making analogies that make no sense whatsoever. Be sure when reading a post to scrutinize over the conclusions being made and ask yourself "Is what he/she is saying making logical sense?", if it doesn't then their whole argument will be flawed.
In conclusion, as a group I feel that those of us involved in athletics,sports,and coaching do a poor job of scrutinizing the information that we pass on to others; and athletes do a poor job of really researching whom they trust to learn from sometimes. The next time someone on your Facebook wall, or twitter feed posts something look a bit deeper into the presentation and try to figure out if they really know what they're talking about, or just pretending to.
1. Flowery scientific-y language
Now don't get me wrong, proper language is important when discussing things related in the field of exercise science. The problem comes to be when you are incapable of writing a post without showing off some of the jargon that you have in your arsenal. The bigger problem comes into play when you use this vocabulary with your athletes when they have no background in training or exercise science. That is when their eyes gloss over and the hamster in their brain falls out of their wheel and everything you said is all for naught. Albert Einstein put it best...
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
2. Angry, aggressive points
Confidence is awesome, however I believe that it is also circular. As an example of this point, I feel that if you become over-confident you begin to border on false confidence coming from insecurity and self doubt. We all know people who talk incessantly about how awesome they are. Think back and you'll realize that these people are some of the most insecure people you've known. If someone is trying to convince you of a point regarding sports or training and they can't write without angrily speaking about what frustrates them about other coaches and athletes and what they do wrong, then you should start to look a little deeper and ask "well, why are you so angry about it?"
3. False equivalencies and other fallacies
Bit of background. In college I was required to take philosophy as a general education course. Due to an issue with the registrar I was accidentally placed in a high level advanced logic course instead of an intro course. I did not realize this fact until later in the semester. It was the only college course I failed. That summer I re-took the course at another University with actually a more strict professor but one who knew the material much better. I got a 4.0 which replaced my F. One of my favorite parts of philosophy was how to label and discover fallacious arguments. Put on one of those 24 hour news networks and you'll hear a whole gaggle of them! I read a huge number of posts that try to equate two things that really have no bearing on one another; sometimes even making analogies that make no sense whatsoever. Be sure when reading a post to scrutinize over the conclusions being made and ask yourself "Is what he/she is saying making logical sense?", if it doesn't then their whole argument will be flawed.
In conclusion, as a group I feel that those of us involved in athletics,sports,and coaching do a poor job of scrutinizing the information that we pass on to others; and athletes do a poor job of really researching whom they trust to learn from sometimes. The next time someone on your Facebook wall, or twitter feed posts something look a bit deeper into the presentation and try to figure out if they really know what they're talking about, or just pretending to.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Use Your Flippin' Head!: Common sense training
Bruce Lee quote to start off this entry : "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times"
I'm not going to footnote or end-note this post. I COULD cite sources, studies, scientific journals, etc; however that would defeat the purpose of this entry. Athletes routinely send me videos (both current and former athletes) asking for input. Much of these videos have huge amounts of flaws. I am realizing, however, the athletes don't want input, they want a pat on the back for doing things wrong and improperly/unsafely.
Like I said, I am not going to cite sources in this entry but rather use a common sense approach. I have had a number of athletes humbly brag to me that they are squatting 700lbs. When I open the video file what I see is not a back squat, but more akin to someone trying to get the underwear out of their bum while a loaded bar is on their shoulders. My athletes know that sometimes (depending on the phase of training) I will program squats less than full once in a while (not often, but sometimes) however I will never program extremely shallow squats with a huge amount of weight. To put it bluntly, no Virginia, you cannot squat that much. As a common sense approach, take Xiaojun as an example. One of the best current olympic weightlifters. Take a look at this clip of him squatting 280kilos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmM-jR77SkY
By saying that you can squat more than him, you are telling me that you are on par with him in terms of strength and (most likely) athleticism. Which no, you aren't. Like I said, just being brutally honest here. Anyone whom I have coached knows how slowly I progress my athletes early on. So it breaks my heart when I see all of my hundreds of hours of work fly out the window, just so they can put more weight on the bar. Now I know how that guy from that movie felt, yeah THAT guy...
So all of this background just leads me to the title of my post...use your flippin' head! Just use common sense for a lot of these issues. I spoke before about how athletes need to stop viewing squats as a lift and start viewing it as a body movement. The technique for one style of squat should be the same as any other (front squat posture and stability should be the same as back squat, should be the same as body-weight). Back squats are a tool, they are not the competition. And the way to best utilize that tool is to perform it correctly regardless of the weight attached. Take another tool, for example, a hammer. What is the best way to use it? Well, the flat metal end hits the nail. Could you smack the nail with the claw end? Or the handle? Sure. Would it knock the nail in? Yeah kinda, but it wouldn't be pretty. Think of squats along the same lines. COULD you barely move with any range of motion with a gabillion pounds? Well yeah. Would part of your legs get a workout? Meh, somewhat, but it most definitely ain't pretty, and it most definitely ain't productive, efficient, or the best way to utilize that movement.
My high school track coach said a bunch of times "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" and boy was he right. Nowadays, anyone who lifts a weight considers them an expert and feels they have carte blanche to instruct others about their methods. I understand what happens during a quadruple bypass surgery more or less. Does that qualify me to not only perform one, but also instruct others how to perform one? Boy I hope not, I can barely sew up a hole in my pants. Why do we allow unqualified people to tell young athletes what to do in terms of weightlifting, strength training, and other areas of sport? I really have no idea, but that is where it falls upon the athletes' to use their heads, use some common sense and realize that what they are doing is wrong, dangerous, and needs to stop. If the workouts that are being given to you were found on some message board on the internet, you probably need to say something.
In closing, weightlifting is a great tool for adding strength, flexibility and training the nervous system; however it can also cause a lot of injury and inflexibility if performed improperly. Use some common sense, be careful who you listen to regarding training and try to educate yourselves. Anyone who knows me knows I am always available for input and I have no issues telling someone what they're doing is batcrap crazy. Focus on proper technique, admit your flaws (very important) and then correct those flaws. And above all, lift safely!
I'm not going to footnote or end-note this post. I COULD cite sources, studies, scientific journals, etc; however that would defeat the purpose of this entry. Athletes routinely send me videos (both current and former athletes) asking for input. Much of these videos have huge amounts of flaws. I am realizing, however, the athletes don't want input, they want a pat on the back for doing things wrong and improperly/unsafely.
Like I said, I am not going to cite sources in this entry but rather use a common sense approach. I have had a number of athletes humbly brag to me that they are squatting 700lbs. When I open the video file what I see is not a back squat, but more akin to someone trying to get the underwear out of their bum while a loaded bar is on their shoulders. My athletes know that sometimes (depending on the phase of training) I will program squats less than full once in a while (not often, but sometimes) however I will never program extremely shallow squats with a huge amount of weight. To put it bluntly, no Virginia, you cannot squat that much. As a common sense approach, take Xiaojun as an example. One of the best current olympic weightlifters. Take a look at this clip of him squatting 280kilos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmM-jR77SkY
By saying that you can squat more than him, you are telling me that you are on par with him in terms of strength and (most likely) athleticism. Which no, you aren't. Like I said, just being brutally honest here. Anyone whom I have coached knows how slowly I progress my athletes early on. So it breaks my heart when I see all of my hundreds of hours of work fly out the window, just so they can put more weight on the bar. Now I know how that guy from that movie felt, yeah THAT guy...
So all of this background just leads me to the title of my post...use your flippin' head! Just use common sense for a lot of these issues. I spoke before about how athletes need to stop viewing squats as a lift and start viewing it as a body movement. The technique for one style of squat should be the same as any other (front squat posture and stability should be the same as back squat, should be the same as body-weight). Back squats are a tool, they are not the competition. And the way to best utilize that tool is to perform it correctly regardless of the weight attached. Take another tool, for example, a hammer. What is the best way to use it? Well, the flat metal end hits the nail. Could you smack the nail with the claw end? Or the handle? Sure. Would it knock the nail in? Yeah kinda, but it wouldn't be pretty. Think of squats along the same lines. COULD you barely move with any range of motion with a gabillion pounds? Well yeah. Would part of your legs get a workout? Meh, somewhat, but it most definitely ain't pretty, and it most definitely ain't productive, efficient, or the best way to utilize that movement.
My high school track coach said a bunch of times "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" and boy was he right. Nowadays, anyone who lifts a weight considers them an expert and feels they have carte blanche to instruct others about their methods. I understand what happens during a quadruple bypass surgery more or less. Does that qualify me to not only perform one, but also instruct others how to perform one? Boy I hope not, I can barely sew up a hole in my pants. Why do we allow unqualified people to tell young athletes what to do in terms of weightlifting, strength training, and other areas of sport? I really have no idea, but that is where it falls upon the athletes' to use their heads, use some common sense and realize that what they are doing is wrong, dangerous, and needs to stop. If the workouts that are being given to you were found on some message board on the internet, you probably need to say something.
In closing, weightlifting is a great tool for adding strength, flexibility and training the nervous system; however it can also cause a lot of injury and inflexibility if performed improperly. Use some common sense, be careful who you listen to regarding training and try to educate yourselves. Anyone who knows me knows I am always available for input and I have no issues telling someone what they're doing is batcrap crazy. Focus on proper technique, admit your flaws (very important) and then correct those flaws. And above all, lift safely!
Monday, September 8, 2014
5 Qualities that quality human beings posess.
I've said before, I am tired of all of the "things positive people do" lists that people post on Facebook, or the "things mentally tough people avoid", I have made my own list. We are all human beings (unless this blog is being read by a dog, in which place please contact me because you're a reading dog and that's friggin' awesome), and being of the same species we have the capability for some amazing qualities. We also have some very negative qualities and things I refer to as "design flaws", which is OK. We are not wired the same way. So for all of you whom have bruises on your backs from patting yourself too much, here's my list...
1. Empathy
Anyone who knows me knows I have referred to empathy a number of times. I think that empathy is one of the most underrated, beautiful traits that we can posses. In the news lately are a number of saddening stories regarding depression and how it can affect people. Rather than actually trying to understand how deep these individuals have sunk and how awful a fight this affliction can be on a daily basis, people have rushed to call these individuals "mentally weak". Empathy doesn't mean you accept everyone's mindset, even if it is wrong. It means trying to actually put yourself in someone else's situation emotionally. It is not a weakness to possess this trait, it is a strength. We are social animals, not solitary.
2. Imagination
Very underrated, and sometimes beaten out of us emotionally and spiritually at a young age, imagination is largely a human trait. I'm not talking only about having an imaginary friend, or playing with your lego's or stuffed animals (I had Willy...he was a walrus...I loved him), rather the ability to think uniquely. Too often we just follow what others have told us, or what we have been taught. What if Dick Fosbury hadn't tried jumping over a bar backwards? Or Parry O'Brien hadn't put his back toward the sector in shot put? Let's try a quote from my man-crush to exemplify my point...“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”-Bruce Lee
3. Beauty
I am NOT referring to appearance! I add an exclamation mark because beauty and variations thereof are used by me very commonly, and also commonly people assume I am talking about appearance. Here are the definitions of the word...
1. a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.
2. a beautiful or pleasing thing or person, in particular.
This quality I won't go into detail with, simply because it should be something each person can appreciate and see on their own. I would add more to the definition, however, and state that something does not need to be tangible in order to be beautiful since the qualities listed in the first definition are all tangible.
4. Humor
This quality is what I believe really does separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. While I think other animals can be humored, and entertained I believe true humor is uniquely a human trait. Humor isn't only being funny, telling knock knock jokes, being the class clown...actually think about it...class clown's were never really that funny. They were usually trouble-makers that got laughs based on being rude...but I digress. Actually let me use another quote regarding humor..."Humor is mankind's greatest blessing"-Mark Twain....and how about "You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it"-Bill Cosby
5. Self-Awareness
I don't mean cogito ergo sum...if you don't know what that means google it. I mean knowing what type of person you are, flaws, strengths, etc and admitting to them. I closed with this trait because I believe it is why so many people post on their walls those lists I referred to earlier. Those lists contain qualities that people wished they possessed. Realize that you are flawed, and unique and that there is no way that ever lifeform on this planet can behave, think, and react the same way to their environment, lives, and stressors. To me, this point is the most aggrivating point about those lists. It may be easy for some to take hardship, life devasting situations, depression, stress. While others may be affected a completely different way. Part of this may be due to their lives as a whole and things that happened to them specifically, or it could just be how they are wired chemically, and emotionally. Either way, how dare anyone judge them for not having qualities that there may be no way for them to possess. Every human being is unique, so treat them that way. If the hole is round don't try to jam a square peg through it.
Ok that's it, there's my list. Basically if you possess these qualities, I doubt you're the type of person I am referring to that posts lists on social media. If you are insulted by this blog post...then I'm guess you have at some point posted a list like that on social media. My advice? Practice number 4 and laugh about it :)
1. Empathy
Anyone who knows me knows I have referred to empathy a number of times. I think that empathy is one of the most underrated, beautiful traits that we can posses. In the news lately are a number of saddening stories regarding depression and how it can affect people. Rather than actually trying to understand how deep these individuals have sunk and how awful a fight this affliction can be on a daily basis, people have rushed to call these individuals "mentally weak". Empathy doesn't mean you accept everyone's mindset, even if it is wrong. It means trying to actually put yourself in someone else's situation emotionally. It is not a weakness to possess this trait, it is a strength. We are social animals, not solitary.
2. Imagination
Very underrated, and sometimes beaten out of us emotionally and spiritually at a young age, imagination is largely a human trait. I'm not talking only about having an imaginary friend, or playing with your lego's or stuffed animals (I had Willy...he was a walrus...I loved him), rather the ability to think uniquely. Too often we just follow what others have told us, or what we have been taught. What if Dick Fosbury hadn't tried jumping over a bar backwards? Or Parry O'Brien hadn't put his back toward the sector in shot put? Let's try a quote from my man-crush to exemplify my point...“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”-Bruce Lee
3. Beauty
I am NOT referring to appearance! I add an exclamation mark because beauty and variations thereof are used by me very commonly, and also commonly people assume I am talking about appearance. Here are the definitions of the word...
1. a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.
2. a beautiful or pleasing thing or person, in particular.
This quality I won't go into detail with, simply because it should be something each person can appreciate and see on their own. I would add more to the definition, however, and state that something does not need to be tangible in order to be beautiful since the qualities listed in the first definition are all tangible.
4. Humor
This quality is what I believe really does separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. While I think other animals can be humored, and entertained I believe true humor is uniquely a human trait. Humor isn't only being funny, telling knock knock jokes, being the class clown...actually think about it...class clown's were never really that funny. They were usually trouble-makers that got laughs based on being rude...but I digress. Actually let me use another quote regarding humor..."Humor is mankind's greatest blessing"-Mark Twain....and how about "You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it"-Bill Cosby
5. Self-Awareness
I don't mean cogito ergo sum...if you don't know what that means google it. I mean knowing what type of person you are, flaws, strengths, etc and admitting to them. I closed with this trait because I believe it is why so many people post on their walls those lists I referred to earlier. Those lists contain qualities that people wished they possessed. Realize that you are flawed, and unique and that there is no way that ever lifeform on this planet can behave, think, and react the same way to their environment, lives, and stressors. To me, this point is the most aggrivating point about those lists. It may be easy for some to take hardship, life devasting situations, depression, stress. While others may be affected a completely different way. Part of this may be due to their lives as a whole and things that happened to them specifically, or it could just be how they are wired chemically, and emotionally. Either way, how dare anyone judge them for not having qualities that there may be no way for them to possess. Every human being is unique, so treat them that way. If the hole is round don't try to jam a square peg through it.
Ok that's it, there's my list. Basically if you possess these qualities, I doubt you're the type of person I am referring to that posts lists on social media. If you are insulted by this blog post...then I'm guess you have at some point posted a list like that on social media. My advice? Practice number 4 and laugh about it :)
Friday, May 16, 2014
The Athletic Classroom
Anyone who has ever spoken to me regarding coaching at the collegiate level has no doubt also seen me hop up on my soapbox and speak about the educational value of college sports. This statement holds true, also, for those individuals who have interviewed me for a coaching position. I rarely have anyone disagree with my statements and, if anything, fellow coaches tell me that they feel the same way. The dilemma I face on a consistent basis is that these colleagues of mine are only paying lip service, and behave in the complete opposite way. This blog article is simply outlining why I am so passionate regarding college athletics as a method of education, and why I feel we are on a downward slide moving away from education and academics.
I was never an outstanding track and field athlete. In fact, I was even below mediocre coming out of high school. With PRs at 39' in Shot Put and roughly 130' in discus I was pretty run of the mill. Luckily I had a coach in Kunle Lawson who took an interest in helping me improve when attending Lynchburg College and decided to become a division III athlete as opposed to accepting much larger offers to play football(my primary sport in high school). While a senior in high school, no one and I mean NO one recruited me for track and field aside from Lynchburg. One small program in New Jersey which shall remain nameless even told me that I was too small to throw Discus or Shot Put for them, but maybe they could try to teach me hammer. Imagine that, a division III program turning down an in-state athlete because of physical appearance without even watching them compete.
I bring up this anecdote because it exemplifies some things I feel are wrong with collegiate athletics. In an admissions driven sport (track and field) NO student athlete who is willing to compete for a program should feel undervalued or as though they aren't good enough to be part of the program. Compare athletics directly to academics for a minute, we often as coaches have student-athletes who arrive at college with low GPAs who need to work and mature to improve their grades in order to be in good academic standing and receive their degrees on time. There is little to no difference between this example, and a student-athlete who has yet to mature and grow athletically. As an educator, it is your job as a coach to help that student athlete improve and reach their athletic potential. Simply because they are not as developed as others on your squad is no reason to treat them differently or act as though they are a waste of your time.
In the academic world, the primary job of a teacher/instructor is to create an environment in which learning can take place. That is all. The goal is not to throw as much information at a student as possible or to teach directly towards a test so they pass, it is to create an environment where they are able to learn. Athletics should be treated the same way. The goal should be to create an environment where a student-athlete can reach their athletic potential and mature as an athlete. For each athlete this environment will be different, but the goal remains the same. Some athletes I have coached told me that I explain things too much to them, some student-athletes ask me even MORE questions about my program design and why certain drills are utilized. Neither athlete is "better" than the other, they just require a different type of environment.
Aside from creating the practice environment, the educational coach(trademarked Gregg Schmidt 2014!) must also care for the mental health of the student-athlete. College is a tumultuous time, especially for underclassmen, and the coach will always have outside issues to deal with regarding their student-athletes. I feel that most universities are way behind the curve when it comes to counseling and caring for the mental health of all students, not just student-athletes. The worst thing a coach can do is show the student-athlete that they don't care about their lives, or that it isn't their job to help them. A term educators are taught early on is "In Loco Parentis" which means "In place of the parents". This term means that in the absence of the parents, the educator is in charge of the growth and heath of the student athlete. I take this responsibility very seriously, as many of my former athletes can attest to, and am sickened when colleagues neglect their responsibilities.
In closing, I am not writing this article to slight or attack any other coaches or to list examples of things they do wrong (although the list is quite long!), it is simply a plea to my colleagues to understand their responsibility to the athletes that they work with and also to take it seriously and not for granted. Throughout my career I have been the direct "supervisor" so to speak of nearly 500 student-athletes and care for each of their growth equally. The goal as a coach is not to have the most national champions, or all americans, it is(or at least should be) to help each athlete reach their potential not only as an athlete, but as a human being.
I was never an outstanding track and field athlete. In fact, I was even below mediocre coming out of high school. With PRs at 39' in Shot Put and roughly 130' in discus I was pretty run of the mill. Luckily I had a coach in Kunle Lawson who took an interest in helping me improve when attending Lynchburg College and decided to become a division III athlete as opposed to accepting much larger offers to play football(my primary sport in high school). While a senior in high school, no one and I mean NO one recruited me for track and field aside from Lynchburg. One small program in New Jersey which shall remain nameless even told me that I was too small to throw Discus or Shot Put for them, but maybe they could try to teach me hammer. Imagine that, a division III program turning down an in-state athlete because of physical appearance without even watching them compete.
I bring up this anecdote because it exemplifies some things I feel are wrong with collegiate athletics. In an admissions driven sport (track and field) NO student athlete who is willing to compete for a program should feel undervalued or as though they aren't good enough to be part of the program. Compare athletics directly to academics for a minute, we often as coaches have student-athletes who arrive at college with low GPAs who need to work and mature to improve their grades in order to be in good academic standing and receive their degrees on time. There is little to no difference between this example, and a student-athlete who has yet to mature and grow athletically. As an educator, it is your job as a coach to help that student athlete improve and reach their athletic potential. Simply because they are not as developed as others on your squad is no reason to treat them differently or act as though they are a waste of your time.
In the academic world, the primary job of a teacher/instructor is to create an environment in which learning can take place. That is all. The goal is not to throw as much information at a student as possible or to teach directly towards a test so they pass, it is to create an environment where they are able to learn. Athletics should be treated the same way. The goal should be to create an environment where a student-athlete can reach their athletic potential and mature as an athlete. For each athlete this environment will be different, but the goal remains the same. Some athletes I have coached told me that I explain things too much to them, some student-athletes ask me even MORE questions about my program design and why certain drills are utilized. Neither athlete is "better" than the other, they just require a different type of environment.
Aside from creating the practice environment, the educational coach(trademarked Gregg Schmidt 2014!) must also care for the mental health of the student-athlete. College is a tumultuous time, especially for underclassmen, and the coach will always have outside issues to deal with regarding their student-athletes. I feel that most universities are way behind the curve when it comes to counseling and caring for the mental health of all students, not just student-athletes. The worst thing a coach can do is show the student-athlete that they don't care about their lives, or that it isn't their job to help them. A term educators are taught early on is "In Loco Parentis" which means "In place of the parents". This term means that in the absence of the parents, the educator is in charge of the growth and heath of the student athlete. I take this responsibility very seriously, as many of my former athletes can attest to, and am sickened when colleagues neglect their responsibilities.
In closing, I am not writing this article to slight or attack any other coaches or to list examples of things they do wrong (although the list is quite long!), it is simply a plea to my colleagues to understand their responsibility to the athletes that they work with and also to take it seriously and not for granted. Throughout my career I have been the direct "supervisor" so to speak of nearly 500 student-athletes and care for each of their growth equally. The goal as a coach is not to have the most national champions, or all americans, it is(or at least should be) to help each athlete reach their potential not only as an athlete, but as a human being.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Why stick with 'what's been working', if you don't even know if it's working?
Ok, at this point any of my athletes/fellow coaches who know me, know that I have an all encompassing man-crush on Bruce Lee. Allow me to preface this entry with a bit of back-story regarding Bruce and I and how I feel he changed my life/opened my mind.
Bruce was a classically trained martial artist in the style of Wing-Chung Gung-Fu. He learned from Yip-Man, still a legend in the world of martial arts, and was incredibly adept in his technique. Fast forward to his early life in the USA. Bruce never stepped away from what he learned from his Gung-Fu background, but still adapted the technique and fighting style to make it his own, which is how he 'created' Jeet Kun Do. I put 'created' in quotes because Jeet Kun Do is made to be adapted to each individual martial artist. One of his famous quotes is...
"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own"
Or also the very famous "Be Like Water" quote.
This statement and other writings of his opened my mind as both an athlete and coach. When I graduated from college I weighed upwards of 280lbs and was tired of being a lazy, un-athletic oaf and using the excuse of "oh, I'm a shot putter" to explain why I weighed so much. Using Bruce Lee's texts, and catering a training regime to my own style as well as strengths and weaknesses I went from close to 280 in July to 187lbs the following April all the while gaining strength. I owe a lot to Bruce Lee's writings and his own research some 40 years before I even implemented his ideas on fitness, nutrition and just clean living. To borrow another quote, this time from Isaac Newton, I stood 'on the shoulders of giants' and my education as a coach had begun.
Ok fast forward to the whole purpose of this blog entry, regarding the close-mindedness that is still rampant throughout the coaching/athletic community. Any of you who know myself, or any of my colleges through East Coast Gold, or track and field coaches I am friendly with know how open the coaches are to discuss their training ideas, coaching philosophies and just basic program design method. It is an awesome community to be a part of, and I've learned just as much (if not more) from these conversations as I have through any of my certification courses, lectures or conventions.
As a result, I've learned to be very open and generous with my time and knowledge as a coach, especially with strength and conditioning. However, when I ask questions regarding a teams program design when they ask for advice on their workouts, the reply that I still detest to this day is "well, we've been doing this program for 15 years now so we'll be sticking with that". Keep in mind, this frustration has nothing at all to do with the workout itself, rather the rigidity and apathy that is used for the reason of it's implementation. More often then not, these workouts are the same workouts the particular coach used themselves when they were an athlete, then they simply copy and paste, and dispense to their new athletes. It's basically Amway or Quixtar with workouts rather than groceries.
As a bit of background, strength training for sports has not been around all too long when you think about it. The workouts started as mostly hypertrophy/bodybuilding workouts and grew from there. Sadly, some coaches never evolved their workouts past hypertrophy. I've noticed that I have encouraged and ended many a blog post asking coaches and athletes to educate themselves further but, yep, I'm going to do it again. If I had not (and did not still continue to) educate myself, I would be 280lbs still and a very ineffective coach. Any of my coaching buddies reading this entry know, from first hand experience, how many of their brains I pick when writing workouts for an upcoming season, especially if I am going to try new things with a particular group. My first college coaching gig was in 2005 and I wish I had the lifting workouts I wrote from back then. For athletes in season it contained things like 4 different versions of a press, along with cleans at sets of 8 and 2 forms of squats all in the same day. I didn't know any better. However what I DID know was that I wanted to constantly improve.
A day doesn't go by that I don't look back with regret at that the athletes I coached early in my career and wish I could work with them now. I was a loud mouthed, arrogant, uneducated coach, who made up for his insecurities by displaying anger. However, I was at least able to understand my short comings and evolve my programs from there. I'm currently working on workouts for Summer/Fall for athletes and looking into last years program for any things I feel can be improved. So next time you are trusted with the task of coaching young athletes and designing programs, take the time to research, not only training methods you aren't well versed in, but also each individual athlete. And once your research is complete adjust your workouts to fit whatever mold you have. In other words, 'Be Like Water'.
Bruce was a classically trained martial artist in the style of Wing-Chung Gung-Fu. He learned from Yip-Man, still a legend in the world of martial arts, and was incredibly adept in his technique. Fast forward to his early life in the USA. Bruce never stepped away from what he learned from his Gung-Fu background, but still adapted the technique and fighting style to make it his own, which is how he 'created' Jeet Kun Do. I put 'created' in quotes because Jeet Kun Do is made to be adapted to each individual martial artist. One of his famous quotes is...
"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own"
Or also the very famous "Be Like Water" quote.
This statement and other writings of his opened my mind as both an athlete and coach. When I graduated from college I weighed upwards of 280lbs and was tired of being a lazy, un-athletic oaf and using the excuse of "oh, I'm a shot putter" to explain why I weighed so much. Using Bruce Lee's texts, and catering a training regime to my own style as well as strengths and weaknesses I went from close to 280 in July to 187lbs the following April all the while gaining strength. I owe a lot to Bruce Lee's writings and his own research some 40 years before I even implemented his ideas on fitness, nutrition and just clean living. To borrow another quote, this time from Isaac Newton, I stood 'on the shoulders of giants' and my education as a coach had begun.
Ok fast forward to the whole purpose of this blog entry, regarding the close-mindedness that is still rampant throughout the coaching/athletic community. Any of you who know myself, or any of my colleges through East Coast Gold, or track and field coaches I am friendly with know how open the coaches are to discuss their training ideas, coaching philosophies and just basic program design method. It is an awesome community to be a part of, and I've learned just as much (if not more) from these conversations as I have through any of my certification courses, lectures or conventions.
As a result, I've learned to be very open and generous with my time and knowledge as a coach, especially with strength and conditioning. However, when I ask questions regarding a teams program design when they ask for advice on their workouts, the reply that I still detest to this day is "well, we've been doing this program for 15 years now so we'll be sticking with that". Keep in mind, this frustration has nothing at all to do with the workout itself, rather the rigidity and apathy that is used for the reason of it's implementation. More often then not, these workouts are the same workouts the particular coach used themselves when they were an athlete, then they simply copy and paste, and dispense to their new athletes. It's basically Amway or Quixtar with workouts rather than groceries.
As a bit of background, strength training for sports has not been around all too long when you think about it. The workouts started as mostly hypertrophy/bodybuilding workouts and grew from there. Sadly, some coaches never evolved their workouts past hypertrophy. I've noticed that I have encouraged and ended many a blog post asking coaches and athletes to educate themselves further but, yep, I'm going to do it again. If I had not (and did not still continue to) educate myself, I would be 280lbs still and a very ineffective coach. Any of my coaching buddies reading this entry know, from first hand experience, how many of their brains I pick when writing workouts for an upcoming season, especially if I am going to try new things with a particular group. My first college coaching gig was in 2005 and I wish I had the lifting workouts I wrote from back then. For athletes in season it contained things like 4 different versions of a press, along with cleans at sets of 8 and 2 forms of squats all in the same day. I didn't know any better. However what I DID know was that I wanted to constantly improve.
A day doesn't go by that I don't look back with regret at that the athletes I coached early in my career and wish I could work with them now. I was a loud mouthed, arrogant, uneducated coach, who made up for his insecurities by displaying anger. However, I was at least able to understand my short comings and evolve my programs from there. I'm currently working on workouts for Summer/Fall for athletes and looking into last years program for any things I feel can be improved. So next time you are trusted with the task of coaching young athletes and designing programs, take the time to research, not only training methods you aren't well versed in, but also each individual athlete. And once your research is complete adjust your workouts to fit whatever mold you have. In other words, 'Be Like Water'.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The Decline of the All-Around Athlete...
Sports specialization has become a growing problem in youth athletics, I would even use the word "epidemic". Children are being thrown into a specific sport (soccer, football, basketball) at a young age and immersed in that sport yearlong. This action can lead to a number of problem that ultimately I, as a collegiate coach, am faced with on a daily basis. This entry I just wanted to summarize some of those reasons.
When we're young while we may have a set amount of fast twitch fibres or a genetic predisposition to some sports or activities, our motor skills have yet to fully develop, as well as forms of coordination, postural issues/dysfunctions and other basic tenets of athleticism. When dealing with youth athletes and their parents, I always preach to them to allow their children to play as many sports as they would like. Yes, I will always use the word play, but I will get back to that later. The benefits of a youth athlete training and competing in a variety of sports are immense. For one, every sport builds athleticism in different ways. Whether it be speed, endurance, power, coordination, flexibility, motor skills, etc; the benefits are obvious. The athlete that is better trained all around, will be the better athlete and will have fewer injuries as a result.
The next benefit goes back to that word "play" that I used earlier. The whole purpose of sport at a young age is to enjoy it. Does anyone know the percentage of athletes that turn pro? Here is one that is staggering, 1.7% of college football players turn pro, and .08% of high school football players turn pro. Basketball is even lower with 1.2% of college and .02% of high school players turning professional. (http://www.businessinsider.com/odds-college-athletes-become-professionals-2012-2?op=1)
What this statistic tells you is that the odds of becoming a professional athlete are so infinitesimal, that we are burning out our youth and amateur athletes simply for our own egos and not their own well being. Athletics can be an excellent educational device, but lately it is used either for money making purposes or (worse in my opinion) as a way to stroke egos. The focus needs to be on the athletes' growth, but athletically as well as personally, academically and socially.
Finally, sports are a great stress relief. For college athletes, their days are filled with classes, coursework, thesis papers as well as the basic ills that go with being a 18-23+ year old. Being told that at 18 years old you need to specialize and only pick one sport is just more weight packed onto the donkey's back. Most of the time, the reason for being told this demand is that the coaches simply do not want to share "their" athlete with another sport. Once again, it all goes back to ego. Rather than look out for the well being of the student-athlete, the coach is consumed with the idea of "this athlete is mine, these other coaches and sports will screw him/her up, so they need to train with me 12 months a year". When you think about how absurd this behavior is, it really makes you wonder what athletics (especially collegiate and scholastic) are for anymore.
In conclusion, I'm not really hoping to accomplish anything with this entry, just hoping that my fellow coaches athletes and pals out there will pass along the idea of making these young athletes healthy and happy, but making them well rounded. Think of all the amazing multi-sport athletes in history. Jim Thorpe, Marion Jones, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders moving up today with Lolo Jones and other sprinters in the winter olympics. Stop thinking about athletes as "yours" exclusively. If anything it's YOU that belongs to THEM as their coach, you are there to serve their best interest. Never the other way around.
When we're young while we may have a set amount of fast twitch fibres or a genetic predisposition to some sports or activities, our motor skills have yet to fully develop, as well as forms of coordination, postural issues/dysfunctions and other basic tenets of athleticism. When dealing with youth athletes and their parents, I always preach to them to allow their children to play as many sports as they would like. Yes, I will always use the word play, but I will get back to that later. The benefits of a youth athlete training and competing in a variety of sports are immense. For one, every sport builds athleticism in different ways. Whether it be speed, endurance, power, coordination, flexibility, motor skills, etc; the benefits are obvious. The athlete that is better trained all around, will be the better athlete and will have fewer injuries as a result.
The next benefit goes back to that word "play" that I used earlier. The whole purpose of sport at a young age is to enjoy it. Does anyone know the percentage of athletes that turn pro? Here is one that is staggering, 1.7% of college football players turn pro, and .08% of high school football players turn pro. Basketball is even lower with 1.2% of college and .02% of high school players turning professional. (http://www.businessinsider.com/odds-college-athletes-become-professionals-2012-2?op=1)
What this statistic tells you is that the odds of becoming a professional athlete are so infinitesimal, that we are burning out our youth and amateur athletes simply for our own egos and not their own well being. Athletics can be an excellent educational device, but lately it is used either for money making purposes or (worse in my opinion) as a way to stroke egos. The focus needs to be on the athletes' growth, but athletically as well as personally, academically and socially.
Finally, sports are a great stress relief. For college athletes, their days are filled with classes, coursework, thesis papers as well as the basic ills that go with being a 18-23+ year old. Being told that at 18 years old you need to specialize and only pick one sport is just more weight packed onto the donkey's back. Most of the time, the reason for being told this demand is that the coaches simply do not want to share "their" athlete with another sport. Once again, it all goes back to ego. Rather than look out for the well being of the student-athlete, the coach is consumed with the idea of "this athlete is mine, these other coaches and sports will screw him/her up, so they need to train with me 12 months a year". When you think about how absurd this behavior is, it really makes you wonder what athletics (especially collegiate and scholastic) are for anymore.
In conclusion, I'm not really hoping to accomplish anything with this entry, just hoping that my fellow coaches athletes and pals out there will pass along the idea of making these young athletes healthy and happy, but making them well rounded. Think of all the amazing multi-sport athletes in history. Jim Thorpe, Marion Jones, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders moving up today with Lolo Jones and other sprinters in the winter olympics. Stop thinking about athletes as "yours" exclusively. If anything it's YOU that belongs to THEM as their coach, you are there to serve their best interest. Never the other way around.
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